Protective material and protective wear is currently used by persons to protect themselves from knocks, abrasions and other injury. Protective wear is used during sport, rugby for example and equestrian sports and other activities where a person runs a risk of injury, for example building and other trades.
Conventional protective wear may form an integral part of an item of clothing, for example a shoulder pad, or be provided separately, for example a shin pad.
One existing arrangement comprises a moulded foam article shaped to fit a particular part of the body. There are, however, a number of problems with this arrangement. The article must be produced in different sizes to fit different people. Provision of different sizes can be expensive or inconvenient. Also, closely fitting articles can restrict movement of the wearer, especially when worn on or near joints.
In DE 43 41 722 is disclosed a cushioning material for the treatment of lymphostatic fibroses in which a plurality of foam elements with an enlarged base are disposed side-by-side with their bases touching on a foundation layer to which they are affixed. The troughs defined between the side walls of the elements enable the material to be flexed to form a pressure bandage. However, the foram elements of the bandage touch one another at their base, which restricts the stretchability of the material as a whole and is also designed to be worn with the elements in contact with the skin, which would restrict movement.
A moulded foam article can only correctly fit a joint when in one position. When the joint moves, the article will no longer fit correctly. This may reduce the protection it affords.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,285,768 is disclosed a fabric coated with a surface deformed foam which is manufactured either by grooving or slashing a sheet of foam to a portion of its depth and then laminating it to the fabric or by laminating a foam sheet to a fabric and then grooving or slashing the form layer. However, neither of these methods enables the foam to be cut to define a plurality of spaced, separate elements, which is preferred if the fabric is to be used in protective wear for ,sports persons when considerable freedom of movement by the wearer is required in addition to comfort.
Another existing arrangement comprises a quilted material including lengths of foam sewn into pockets formed between two layers of fabric. Such materials are time consuming to produce. Also, such materials can generally only easily be flexed in a direction perpendicular to that of the strips of foam. Flexing the material in a direction along the length of the strips involves flexing the strips themselves which, depending on the type of foam used, can be difficult. A similar type of garment is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,551,082 which describes an athletic garment in which strategically placed rib-shaped gel, air or foam padding is contained in envelopes that are individually affixed to an elasticized fabric shell.